The Shameless (2015) User Reviews

I wanted to like this.

[alyssasistrunk · 5/10 · 17 March 2023]

I wanted to like this more than I did, and I just had to give it a watch, considering it had Kim Nam-gil which is my favorite actor. I will say, he is a phenomenal actor, but this movie lacked much real depth to me. It was a very pushed connection, and or chemistry that actually didn't seem present in any of the characters, with any of each other or really themself all that much. Definitely not present between Kim and Park, but a complete facade of one, I understand she was incredibly naive, and you have sympathy for her, but it was more annoying than sad to me. A constant sacrifice to those dumb men, when it was not returned, comes off as "idiotic", rather than sweet or sad. I absolutely hated her character and everything she was. The ending was the absolute worse, and she deserved much worse at the end. I ended up losing any of the sympathy I had for at the end. There was no chemistry between Jeong and Kim either, even though it was trying so desperately hard to build that, but it was pretty empty. Their interactions were surface layer, and lacked real meaning. I had trouble finishing this movie, and was going to stop watching it about 30 minutes in, but said I'll continue to watch because of Kim Nam-gil. It's not terrible per say, it's just not all that around that Interesting and nearly bored me to death. My biggest and one issue with this film, was the nudity, vulgar language, and sex scenes. You can betray all these dark things of humans, and the nature of us, and society without showing nudity and sex. It doesn't add any substance, and that isn't bought by people who are actually looking for films and shows with real substance and meaning. The whole movie was depressing, everything felt dark even in the daylight. Which is clearly obvious because of how depressing this movie was meant to be. The only good thing this film had going for it was casting Kim Nam-gil, which his character lacked much of really anything, was uninteresting, and you didn't have a clue what he was truly thinking and or feeling throughout the whole movie, so, no I don't suggest this movie, but only to those who are die hard fans of Kim Nam-gil, otherwise if you decide to not watch it, you aren't missing much.

A specialty of Korea

[clintonlockwood · 7/10 · 24 April 2021]

If there is one genre that marks Korean cinema as being above the rest, it is the crime genre. Police dramas, mobster films, serial killers... whatever the focus, Korea excels at setting the mood in these films.

The Shameless isn't the best of the bunch, but it is yet another example of a slick production, with electrifying acting, and a good story.

Love and Betrayal

[elektrar · 7/10 · 18 September 2020]

Beautifully directed and acted movie portraying a love triangle between a criminal, his lover and the cop who's after him. The movie's end is twisted, satisfying, yet open for interpretation.

This film will leave you with all sorts of lingering emotions thanks to its superb story-telling, making it one of the best there is in this genre.

Seen it all before, and done better too

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 2 January 2017]

THE SHAMELESS is another Korean drama/thriller that follows a hackneyed old storyline that the Koreans seem to love seeing play out. The storyline is about a top undercover cop who is part of a team tasked with bringing down a violent crime boss. To this end, the police decide to movie in on the man's girlfriend, but the cop ends up falling in love with her, which complicates things rather extensively.

The old 'falling in love with the wrong person' story has been done too many times in Korean cinema to note. One of the best examples is A BITTERSWEET LIFE which I'd recommend to anyone reading this, if you haven't already seen it. However, THE SHAMELESS isn't an action film or indeed particularly thrilling; it's much slower and more mannered than that, more of a dark drama. It reminded me a little of BREATHLESS, although BREATHLESS is much better.

The problem with this film is not just the familiarity of the situation but the execution too. It's just so slow and slight that it doesn't grip the attention like other pulse-pounding Korean thrillers. I don't mind slow - I love the films of Kim Ki-duk - but there has to be SOMETHING there to grab your attention and keep you watching and there's little here. Jeon Do-yeon (so effective in THE HOUSEMAID) gives another interesting performance and there's the odd violent and intense moment, but for the most part THE SHAMELESS is a bit of a bore.